How the Cropping Industry Can Reduce Emissions

The USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS) are providing ways for farmers in the Dakotas and Montana to reduce their emissions by using agricultural practices such as tillage and cropping sequences.

Mar 28, 2013

ARS researcher Upendra Sainju and his colleagues are studying how using no-till systems, crop rotation, cutting back on using nitrogen fertilizers, and other cropping methods can help reduce the amount of emissions they create. Since the agriculture industry makes up 25 percent of carbon dioxide produced and 70 percent of nitrous oxide emissions produced by humans, the research can help to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to their research, irrigation, tillage, fertilizers, and cropping systems were reviewed for their emissions. Loam soil was also evaluated. The results showed that the no-till malt barley-pea rotation with reduced nitrogen fertilizer rates reduced the amount of emissions the most, regardless of whether the field was irrigated.